Jarrah Hot Chocolate and a Giveaway

Have I told you I used to be a nurse? I worked at one of the major teaching hospitals in Sydney and was shunted around for blocks at a time on all the different wards.

The range

On every ward there was a Charge Nurse and these were either ‘friend or foe’. It was always with a feeling of dread that you headed off for your first day on a new ward as you never quite knew what to expect.

Convenient and handy individual sachets

When I had been nursing for just four months I was sent to the Cardiac Ward for a 12-week block. I was met with a Charge Nurse who was more ‘foe’ than ‘friend’. One of the things she asked me, the most junior nurse on the ward to do, was give a presentation to all the qualified nursing staff on the anatomy and physiology of the heart. Ridiculous. When the day arrived she had me in a complete state of fear and I sweated and trembled through the entire shift waiting for the moment that I, the uneducated, was to give a presentation to the experts in the field. Proving my thoughts about her, when the big moment arrived, with a wave of her hand she said everyone was too busy to attend my presentation and it was binned.

Moving right along…

Chocolate, Orange and White

One of the jobs of being a Charge Nurse was that you had to prepare the rosters. And this charge nurse wasn’t open to input or discussion or contributions. The roster was slapped up on the wall and what you saw you had to live with for the next four weeks. I’ve never had a worse roster. There were early shifts that went from 7am – 3.30pm then evening shifts that went from 2.15 – 11-pm. If you did an evening shift you didn’t want to be back on the next morning because you wouldn’t have had enough sleep. This is how the charge nurse did the rostering. It went late/early/late/early/late/early/early, two days off, late/early/late/early/late/early/early, two days off, late/early/late/early/late/early/early, two days off, 7 night duty shifts from 11pm – 7am then four days off, repeat.

Everyone was dead on their feet. We all hated night duty but the good thing is that the charge nurse only worked the early shifts so she wasn’t there to bother you.

Limited Edition Flavours

On all shifts we were given a couple of breaks to have in the tea room but I never went near the tea room because it was so full of cigarette smoke – those were the days! Cheap and nasty tea and coffee were complimentary as was the odd plain biscuit. I don’t actually drink tea and coffee but I did want something hot, warming and comforting.

I used to take sachets of Jarrah Hot Chocolate and carry them around in the zipped-up pocket of my uniform. When I was allowed to go on a break I’d run to the kitchen and tip the sachet into a paper cup, pour in the water from the urn then head somewhere quiet to enjoy my hot chocolate in peace.

The range

On my night duty shifts I wouldn’t just take in a single sachet, I’d take the entire box. It was hard to get a break on night duty but when there was a lull, I’d share my hot chocolate sachets with the other nurses. In the middle of the night it can be quite cold on a hospital ward and so a warming hot chocolate was very much looked forward to.

During my nursing days, Jarrah Hot Chocolate was only available in one flavour, chocolate, which is now called Frothy Classic. Today the Jarrah range has expanded to include Orange and White with two limited edition flavours, Mint and Hazelnut. There’s certainly something for everyone.

I was surprised at how milky and creamy the white chocolate flavour is and it’s amazing that each sachet is just 61 calories.

White Hot Chocolate

The orange flavour reminded me of sitting in a theatre while devouring a box of Jaffas.

Orange Hot Chocolate

The Frothy Classic immediately took me back to my days on the Wards. And just because I don’t drink tea of coffee doesn’t mean I don’t crave a hot drink. I love how the Frothy Classic has all the flavour of a hot chocolate without the heaviness.

Frothy Classic

As soon as I poured the mint hot chocolate I could smell the peppermint. When I tasted the drink it reminded me of being offered an after dinner mint at the end of a dinner party.

Mint Hot Chocolate

The limited edition hazelnut flavoured hot chocolate has a wonderful aroma of hazelnuts however I found the taste of the drink unusual and it is the flavour I least liked.

Hazelnut Hot Chocolate

You don’t just have to be a nurse on the wards to enjoy the Jarrah range. I’ve been known to slip the sachets into my handbag and take to a dinner party so that when tea or coffee is served, I can also enjoy a hot drink.

The Jarrah range caters for everyone and with less than 60 calories per serve, these are a wonderful option for anyone wanting something hot other than tea or coffee.

The range

Jarrah Hot Chocolate is running a giveaway where you can win one of four Jarrah variety packs including a mug valued at $47.40. All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on the blog answering the question below. Competition is open to Australian residents only. The giveaway ends on Friday, July 4 at 5pm.

Comments

I always love to see new Aussie products–and these look yummy indeed. But ouch! Those rosters sound tough. My heart goes out to healthcare workers always. Rough job all the way around. And Charlie, your blog really is like peeling an onion. Today another layer came off. A nurse! I had no idea!

The life of a nurse is a hard one. Both my brother and SIL are nurses.

My SIL switched to teaching nursing after about 2-3 years of working in hospitals while my brother is still a psychiatric nurse and has been on permanent part time at 2 different hospitals for the last 5 yrs. He’s done those late/early shifts working 12 hrs in a row with a 4 hr break and then working an 8 hr shift. I don’t know how he does it. He gave up smoking some years ago thanks to constant nagging from my SIL but coffee is something the he drinks a LOT of.

The hot chocolate sounds delicious. I don’t drink it very often but all those flavours are appealing and especially the mint/chocolate combo. A shame I’m in Canada and not eligible for the giveaway. 🙂

How funny, I remember when smoking was okay at work too!!
I love Jarrah hot chocolates, these are my secret to losing unwanted extra weight. Anytime I have a sweet craving I make
one of these hot chocolates. My favourite is the white chocolate, they also had a honeycomb or toffee which was good too, but if all else fails the original is just as satisfying

Jarrah is littlej’s favourite brand name! 🙂 I feel like a chocolate fix the most after dinner. I want something sweet, but not the extra calories that involves!
What an unpleasant supervisor you had Charlie- it’s amazing that you nurses, and your patients, survived her at all! xox

I too am a nurse! Reading this story is like my life at the present. The constant back and fourth of crappy rosters with the revolving door of ridiculous ‘late/early’s’ as we call them. I never thought i’d say it but quite often a run of night duties is a welcome relief as you can indulge in more than 8 hours sleep for a change! Which leads me to your question, I most often feel like a chocolate fix mid night duty; at around the 3am mark between tube feeds, nappy changes and obs (I’m a pads nurse) I resist the urge to binge on the chocolate brought in by other nurses or gifts brought from the parents and sit back with some warm and comforting ‘ho-cho’. It lasts so much longer and is much more satisfying 😀

I can so relate to your story, Felicity so thanks for sharing. Yep – the crappy rosters; I use to dream of being a charge nurse where I would design the most fair and equitable roster. And definitely around 3am was when I would reach for my Jarrah sachets.

Usually right before I go to bed, I often crave a chocolate fix. I think it’s a combination of knowing my kids are all asleep and I won’t have to share, along with the fact that I usually watch cooking shows in the evenings and they tend to bring on the cravings!

I liked your nurse stories – albeit they don’t sound fun to have lived! – and relate to using Jarrah sachets to get through tough work shifts. In my case, it was getting through long hours of PhD study. They do have an amazing array of flavours.

Oh, my gosh, what a horrible schedule!!! That head nurse did not have her patients in mind when scheduling…I would have been tired and cranky and more of a liability than an asset! I’m so glad you had some yummy hot chocolate to get you through. It was microwave popcorn that we munched on 🙂

So, Charlie, do you really think medical students had a better time – especially the female ones in my time 🙂 🙂 🙂 !!!!! My hospital was Sydney on Macquarie Street – you know that open verandah on the second floor in the old main building facing the street ? Just to spite the distaff side three of us females were made to sleep on that for the whole of August, in the most dire winter weather, with nary a heater pulling about 20 hour shifts!!!!! No kiddin’ 🙂 !! And, of course, we did not get paid: part of training!!!!! And if you as much as ‘pulled a face’ it was a case of ‘well, if you females can’t hack it’!!!!!

Eha, I know exactly what you’re talking about because I remember interns being absolutely dead on their feet from the lengthy shifts with almost zero break between. How it was legal when people so sleep-deprived are responsible for other people’s lives is beyond me. Shocking to think though that you were discriminated against for being female. I bet you have some great dinner party stories!

Well, this post took me right back to my own training days. We had nuns as charge nurses in all the wards and they were terrifying . They were able to glide silently up behind you and catch you the minute you put a foot wrong.
And the tea room!! We had one that was reserved just for smokers. Whenever anyone opened the door the smoke billowed out in clouds. Those were the days!

Argh… How awful having to deal with such a nasty person, I don’t understand that mentality at all, although sounds like you handled her very well. Kudos to you lovely one. Is it bad that I have never tried Jarrah Hot Chocolate before? But I seem to most crave chocolate at about 3pm in the arvo, apparently that means I am missing something in my diet or not getting enough sleep or something… Perhaps I should look into getting me a box to cure those arvo cravings. 🙂

So often you share products that I simply don’t see here…and this is one I wish I could try! My daughter is a nurse and those variable schedules are killers! I didn’t know you’d worked as a nurse. You’re still a nurse, even if you’re not working as one right now! Now I KNOW you knew better than to hurt your knees. LOL!

Hi there Nurse Charle! I wonder how many other foodies that are also nurse like ourselves. I think it must be our way we want to help others in the medical field that also gives us the drive to cook and take care of others at home. My family knows however to actually get the sympathy of a nurse when you are sick at home you have to either lose consciousness, stop breathing or be bleeding out. I hope that at least made you chuckle a little. Wishing you a super day. Take Care, BAM

After the dishes and ironing is done I love to put my feet up and watch a little TV while quaffing back a Jarrah chocolate, I find it so relaxing and uplifting – puts me in the right frame of mind to chill out for bedroom aerobics……

Ahh Jarrah hot chocolates! I couldn’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve had a Jarrah hot chocolate while studying my masters in pharmacy. That course is INTENSE. It was always a nice excuse for a break in our mammoth study sessions; my friends would have coffee but I’m not a coffee drinker so I’d start bringing in these sachets. Every now and then they’d have one too. I just got an email to say I meet the requirements to graduate! So now I’ll be taking the sachets to work while I’m an intern. Love these hot chocolates!

After being good all week watching what I eat and drink, my fix comes on the weekend. Jarrah Hot Chocolate is so tasty and I feel like I am being rewarded for all my efforts of missing out all week!!! 🙂

WOO HOO so glad I haven’t missed the giveaway!!! 🙂 I was so worried haha because I remember seeing this post on your Instagram but I haven’t had the chance to come visit, read and leave a comment.

Gosh being a nurse is a lot harder than I thought! With all those early/late/early/late/early/early shifts! And it must be worse when the Charge nurse isn’t exactly friendly or helpful! How long were you a nurse for Charlie? Did you enjoy the work?

I didn’t know Jarrah has been around for so long 🙂 I’ve only noticed it recently and thought it was a new brand hehe